Prep Review : Brea-Olinda Girls Carry On Without Their Star, McDaniel

X-rays taken of Aimee McDaniel’s painful shins came back negative, but the Brea-Olinda High School girls’ basketball player is expected to sit out the team’s 3 games this week.

Mark Trakh, Brea coach, feared McDaniel might have a stress fracture, but it turned out to be a case of shin splints. Rest and ice are the only ways to cure shin splints, a painful strain of muscles in the lower leg caused by running on a hard surface such as a basketball court.

“It’s really good news, but we need to rest her this week,” Trakh said.

McDaniel, a junior point guard and The Times’ Orange County player of the year last season, is the team’s leading scorer with a 15-point average.

Brea, the top-ranked team in Orange County and in the Southern Section 3-A, effectively clinched a playoff berth Thursday with a 60-50 Orange League victory over Valencia.

But the Wildcats (18-2 overall, 6-0 in league play) still have to get past Savanna Tuesday and Western Thursday to maintain their advantage over Valencia in the race for the league title.

Brea then faces Buena, ranked third in the 5-A, in a nonleague game Saturday at Ventura.

“If Aimee’s not ready for the Buena game, we’re not going to play her,” Trakh said.

McDaniel sat out Brea’s game against Magnolia last Tuesday, but her shins still hurt so she had them X-rayed the next day.

She played Thursday and, for a half, the shins didn’t seem to bother her.

She made her first 7 shots and scored a team-high 17 points. But the pain flared up in the second half and she went scoreless.

“It really was a gutsy performance,” Trakh said.

Still, Trakh isn’t overly concerned about the Wildcats’ fortunes with McDaniel sidelined.

“I think we still have some material,” Trakh said.

Jody Anton, a freshman forward; Tammy Blackburn, a junior forward; and Jinelle Williams, a sophomore center, have performed well in recent games.

Williams had 34 points in the victory over Magnolia last Tuesday. Anton had 12 points and Blackburn 10 against Valencia.

Add Brea: The Wildcats would appear to be the class of the 3-A this season. Their only two losses came in the nationally recognized Christ the King tournament in New York City.

But Trakh figures Palm Desert, St. Joseph of Lakewood and Alemany will be tough to beat once the playoffs start Feb. 16.

“Let’s put it this way, there are four or five teams in the 3-A that could be favored,” he said. “We’re not a dominant team. No way.”

Add girls’ basketball: Carol Strausburg, Fountain Valley coach, won the 200th game of her career when the Barons defeated Ocean View, 45-40, Saturday night.

Strausburg, in her 12th season at Fountain Valley, said she had no idea she was closing in on the milestone until a friend mentioned it last season.

“I said, ‘Gee, I better look this up,’ ” Strausburg said. “It is kind of fun. And it came at a good time and that makes it nice, too.”

With the victory, Fountain Valley moved into a tie for first place with Ocean View in the Sunset League. Ocean View won the teams’ first two meetings this season, 47-46, in the championship game of the Edison-Marina tournament and, 26-25, in the first league contest.

Fountain Valley (15-7, 5-1 and ranked third in the county) is the defending league champion. Ocean View (20-3, 5-1) is ranked second.

It had to happen: After La Quinta’s Scott Campbell made 12 of 16 shots and scored 27 points in a 74-58 victory over Rancho Alamitos Wednesday, Coach Jim Perry heaped praise on his star forward.

Said Perry: “If there’s a better shooter around I haven’t seen him. He has unlimited range. So far nobody has been able to guard him.”

Friday night against Kennedy, Campbell, the county’s leading scorer with a 32-point per game average, had an off night.

Campbell, a 6-foot 5-inch senior, made only 8 of 25 shots from the field and had 25 points as the Aztecs lost, 74-64, to the Fighting Irish.

Fit to be tied: When the girls’ soccer teams of Corona del Mar and Tustin played to a 3-3 tie Tuesday, it marked the fifth consecutive game the schools had played to a tie.

Courtney Augustine, who had 2 goals for Tustin, scored the game-tying goal with 10 minutes left in the game to keep the teams dead even for the past 3 seasons.